Mac Setup For Film Scoring?

[Wolfie2112]

Hello,

I'm about to make the jump to Mac after all these years, but want to make sure I'm getting the right system (I know, resistance is futile!). The people in the Apple Store in my neighbourhood don't know much about music production needs, hence my reason for this posting.

I rarely record audio, so I'm primarily MIDI based. I score to picture mainly, and will be running my current PC as the slave (i7 2700K) via VEPro 5. The slave will host the bigger orchestral VI's suchs as EastWest Hollywood Strings, LASS, etc. I'll be jumping ship from Cakewalk after all these years, so I'm looking at DP8 as it seems to be a solid tool for film scoring. I realize there's a Windows version on its way, but figure now is the time to switch to Mac (unless someone wants to talk me out of it LOL!).

What I am looking at for the Master is a 27" iMac i7 which I'll upgrade to 32GB Ram. My question is....will this setup be adequate for my needs? I am blown away by the display quality of the iMac, so I'd like to go that route as opposed to the Mac Pro (which is apparently undergoing an overhaul). And if I connected an external SSD, perhaps a slave wouldn't be required?

Any suggestions/critisism welcome!

Thanks

[MIDI Life Crisis]

That'll work fine. DP8 is a little "graphically challenged" at the moment. DP7 is rock solid, IMO, and the DP 8 GUI issues are not critical for my scoring work - especially in 64 bit as I host everything ITB.

You will want to get (if you don't already have) a good audio interface. Connectivity with older devices on a Mac that might not have Firewire could be a consideration, but that's a different discussion.

I work a lot with MIDI as well and personally wouldn't opt for an iMac although I know they are great machines. There are a few threads active right now about the idea of doing what I did; buying a well cared for 8 core Mac Pro that might be as old as 2008. They are still great machines and if they are version 3,1 or better they will boot into 64 bit, which DP 8 supports. I'm sure the iMac also supports that, but when you look at the price difference between a Mac Pro and an iMac at any given time, the Mac Pro is always way more expensive, and I think there are good reasons for that.

Expandability, internal speeds, flexible ports, not to mention PCI ports. I also like having the CPU tucked away and a more flexible monitor system. Some of these are clearly personal preferences, but other considerations, especially how much machine you can get used right now v. the cost of a new machine, factors into the picture (if money is an object).

But an iMac should have more than enough power and a bit of expandability thru Thunderbolt and faster USB. A second monitor is also easy and if having the CPU in the monitor doesn't cramp your style and setup, that can also work with an iMac.

BTW, I am hearing elsewhere that MOTU will provide copies of DP7 if you buy DP8. If you buy before the next update (which many are convinced will fix a lot of stuff) you might want to start with a solid DP7 before moving to a slightly buggy 8. It hasn't changed all that munch in terms of the basics. There are a lot of very nice features added in 8 and it is generally solid on a well maintained system, AKAIK. It is quite solid here.

Good luck. A new machine is always an inspiration, if not as much as a check from a producer.

[Wolfie2112]

Thanks for the info. I agree the Mac Pro is more "future proof", but the prices are nuts! I have an M-Audio 2496 PCI card, but will upgrade regardless....Apogee Duet or something.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'm very happy with the MOTU Track 16 and it integrates nicely with their Cue Mix app. I also have a couple of other FW (M-Audio, and Focusrite) but the Track 16 is really quite nice if it meets you needs.

[crduval]

Check out power max (powermax.com) for refurb'ed Mac Pros - you can get a pretty solid recent vintage system for reasonable $ - this was the route I took and I've been very happy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HCMarkus]

If your VIs reside on a slave PC, an iMac should do very nicely. OTOH, I use a 2009 Mac Pro that I upgraded from 4,1 to 5,1. Total cost, before memory and HD/SSD: about $1,900 for a hex 3.33 CPU with 5770 GPU. I'm running three monitors (two Display Port and one VGA), and the Mac sits in a machine closet, so I never have to hear it.

[Wolfie2112]

Thanks for the input! Any thoughts on this?

Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (August 2010)

It only has 3GB Ram (which I can upgrade myself). Would it perforem better than th new i7 iMac?

Thanks again

[mikehalloran]

Thanks for the input! Any thoughts on this?

Mac Pro 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (August 2010)

It only has 3GB Ram (which I can upgrade myself). Would it perforem better than th new i7 iMac?

Thanks again

Yes if you add RAM.

[bdr]

From everything Ive read about Hollywood Strings there's no way it will work well unless its on its own slave, so I'd keep that. I agree with the Mac Pro route, the flexibility is great...I'm at the stage now where I have 11 drives and 2 monitors hanging off the poor old thing LOL.

Can you add extra monitors to an iMac? That is a big one for me, I could never work on one monitor anymore.

[mikehalloran]

Can you add extra monitors to an iMac?

Easily done. Sometimes you need an adapter. My 2010 came with the HDMI-DVI adapter I needed.

I picked up a 23" monitor for $125 from Micro Center and it works great.

With the 2011 on up, Thunderbolt makes it easy to add multiple monitors.